Wesley Ruggles

Wesley Ruggles was married four times, with three of his marriages ending in divorce. His former spouses were Kathryn Crawford, Virginia Caldwell, and Arline Judge. His fourth and last marriage to Marcelle Rogez in 1940 lasted for more than three decades until his death.

He suffered a stroke and died on January 8, 1972.

Wesley Ruggles was born on June 11, 1889, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. He was the younger brother of Charles Ruggles who went on to become a major Hollywood personality in future.

He spent most of his early life in San Francisco and also attended university there. Interested in acting from a young age, he began an apprenticeship in stock and musical comedy.

Wesley Ruggles began his acting career in 1915, playing a Keystone Kop in the comedy short ‘Caught in a Park.’ Over the next couple of years he appeared in a series of short films with comedian Charlie Chaplin which included ‘The Bank’ (1915) and ‘Police’ (1916).

By 1917, he became more focused on direction and began his directorial career with a series of short films. In the late 1910s, as the World War I was winding towards an end, he served as a camera operator with the Army Signal Corps.

He directed his first feature film ‘The Winchester Woman’, a crime drama, in 1919. His other early movies include ‘The Leopard Woman’ (1920), ‘The Remittance Woman’ (1923), and ‘The Age of Innocence’ (1924), the first screen adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel.

A prolific director, he made numerous movies like ‘Finders Keepers’ (1928), ‘The Fourflusher’ (1928), and ‘Port of Dreams’ (1929). Following the advent of the talkies, he released the Laura La Plante film, ‘Scandal’ (1929), which featured some spoken dialogue.

Despite being a proactive director he was not successful. Most of the films he directed were lackluster and were forgotten soon after they released and failed to make an impact on either the critics or the audience. While struggling to establish his career, he made many melodramas starring Ethel Clayton, none of which performed well.

Wesley Ruggles is best known for the Western film ‘Cimarron’ starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne. An extravagant production, it cost $1.4 million to produce it in 1931. The film was a critical success and became the first film to receive more than six Academy Awards nominations with three wins.

He also earned much acclaim for his romantic drama ‘No Man of Her Own’ which had Clark Gable and Carole Lombard appearing as a married couple in their only film together.